Well that didn’t last long. After Google released its Q4 earnings this week, its parent company Alphabet saw stock prices surge to over $800 due to the strong results. This sequence of events caused Alphabet’s market capitalization to reach $540 billion, surpassing Apple as the world’s most valuable company. But the 8% increase in Alphabet’s stock value didn’t last and as the market closed yesterday evening, Apple found itself back on top.
Yesterday was a rough day for the tech sector as Netflix, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, and Yahoo all saw its stock prices drop. At end of day yesterday, Alphabet’s stock was trading at $726.95, down 4.93% from the day before. This resulted in Alphabet’s market capitalization falling to $499.94 billion. Meanwhile, Apple saw an uptake in its stock, increasing by 1.93% and raising the trading value to $96.35 at close. Meaning, Apple finished the day with a market capitalization of $534.22 billion.
Jan Dawson, chief analyst with Jackdaw Research, predicted the two companies would stay in flux, stating, “I'd expect this situation to continue to evolve, and it may well be that Apple ends up passing Google again later this year or sometime next year." But I don’t think anyone expected the flip to happen in a matter of days. Before Alphabet momentarily took the top spot, Apple held the title since 2012 when it vaulted Exxon Mobil as world’s most valuable company.
I certainly think we can expect to see some flip-flop between the two companies as the year progresses, particularly depending on how investors react to Apple’s March event, rumored to take place March 15. Apple has already predicted its first decline for Q2, which may give Alphabet a chance to hold the title once again. At least until the iPhone 7 comes out.
